My wife, who I adore to the point of uxoriousness, says that people here are always interested in what guys (I mean "guys" in the gender-specific sense, with a Y chromosome and all that stuff) have to say about BPALs, so here goes.
Meta-note: this is the first time I've posted a review, and I haven't read very many of them. So if this is not the kind of thing that you're interested in seeing in a review, please PM me to let me know. Or, I guess, if this is exactly what you're interested in seeing, it would be nice to know that too.
Right now at this moment I have Samhain 2004 on my right wrist, and Samhain 2005 on my left wrist. They did not smell very much alike at all at first: the 2005 variety is spicy in kind of a cider-y way, and the 2004 kind has none of that at all. Now that I've had them on for a while, the difference is not so pronounced. I have no idea whether that's because they smell more alike than they did before, or because I've been smelling them both for a while, or both.
When I don't have my wrists right up next to my schnozz -- as for example, right now while I'm typing -- what I smell is a kind of cherry tobacco smell. I like that a lot; probably because I associate that scent with my dad and his pipe from the days of my youth (so long ago...). The unfortunate thing is, I can't tell which wrist that scent is coming from. I kind of think it's both of them, but I can't be sure.
When I'm sniffing these guys up close and personal, I get none of the pumpkin or autumn leaves that other people here talk about. It does put me in mind of relaxing by the fireplace, maybe because of the cider smell, or maybe something more subtle that I just can't put my finger on. It's comforting, whatever it is.
My better half says that the 2004 one smells "powdery." I have no idea what that means, but I expect some of you folks will.
These guys are vaguely reminiscent of: Miskatonic University, Herr Drosselmeyer, and maybe some other ones I'm not thinking of right now.
UPDATE: my original post was at about 6pm yesterday evening. This morning, at around 11am, I noticed that the cherry tobacco smell was still clearly present on my left wrist (the Samhain 2005 one). The other notes, like the cidery smell, were all gone, but I noticed the cherry tobacco smell while I was typing, in other words, with the actual scent a couple of feet from my schnozz. This is unprecedented staying power for a BPAL scent, on me anyway. Isn't that interesting?
OK! Peace out.
rnd
